History : Interesting Cooking Events

So much has been done and created in the history of cooking and the kitchen. Today we go way down memory lane to discover how it all started from 11000 B.C. It is all HISTORY, interesting events.

B.C. The cultivation of soybeans in China predates recorded history and spread from there to other countries in eastern Asia before the modern period. So essential was the soybean to Chinese civilization that it was considered one of the five sacred grains (the others being rice, barley, wheat and millet). The popularity of soybeans in the Orient was due to their wide use as a food.11000 B.C. Flint-edged wooden sickles are used to gather wild grains.
Bronze Age Lentils from this period have been discovered at a settlement site found near Lake Biel in Switzerland.
Almonds dating from this period have been found on the Island of Crete.9000 B.C. Plant cultivation began in the Fertile Crescent region of the Middle East.
Sheep were domesticated in the Middle East.7000 B.C. Mesoamerican (what is now Mexico and Central America) people began cultivating plants such as gourds, peppers, avocados, and a grain, amaranth.6500 B.C. History evidence suggests that peas were grown in Turkey.6000 B.C. The domestication of cattle was introduced.5000 B.C. The Egyptians began irrigating crops.
Dates were cultivated in the Middle East.4000 B.C. Egyptians used yeast as a leavening agent.3500 B.C. Bread-making originated in Egypt.
Sumerians used wild mushrooms as a food.
Olives were known to have been grown on the island of Crete.3000 B.C. Farmers of Mesopotamia were growing crops of turnips, onions, broad beans, peas, lentils, leeks, radishes and garlic.
The breeding of ducks was also introduced.
The Chinese Emperor; Sung Loong Sze ‘discovered’ the medicinal properties of herbs.
There is evidence that turkey was found in American Indian refuse sites.2737 B.C. The origins of tea culture and the brewing of dried tea leaves into a beverage are obscure; experts believe, however, that the tea plant originated in a region encompassing Tibet, western China, and northern India. According to ancient Chinese legend, the emperor Shennong (Shen-Nung) learned how to brew the beverage in 2737 BC when a few leaves from the plant accidentally fell into water he was boiling.2700 B.C. The Chinese had a list of medicinal herbs that consisted of approximately of 365 plants.2500 B.C. Corn was cultivated in Mesoamerica.2000 B.C. Water-treatment knowledge dates from 2000 B.C., when Sanskrit writings indicate that methods for purification of foul water consisted of boiling in copper vessels, exposing to sunlight, filtering through charcoal, and cooling in earthen vessels.
Onions were mentioned as a food source by Sumerian Scribes.

1500 B.C. Coriander was being used as a culinary herb in Egypt.1450 B.C. Egyptians were using cinnamon as a spice.1100 B.C. Chinese were making soy sauce.1000 B.C. The Incas were freezing potatoes in the snow for preservation.
Geese were known to have been popular in Germany.
Chinese thought to be producing a type of alcohol spirit from rice (Sake).800 B.C. Tomatoes were being cultivated in Mexico.776 B.C. According to the earliest records, only one athletic event was held in the ancient Olympics, a foot race of about 183 metres, or the length of the stadium. A cook, Coroibus of Elis, was the first recorded winner.600 B.C. Assyrian king, Sardanapalus said to have introduced the first cooking competition with the prize of thousands of gold pieces.500 B.C. Sugar cane and bananas cultivated in India.206 B.C. Flour milling introduced into China during the Han era, thus allowing the onset of Chinese noodle making.200 B.C. The vending machine was invented about 200 B.C. when Hero of Alexandria described a coin-operated device designed to vend holy water in an Egyptian temple.5 B.C. Palm sugar, tofu and woks were being used by the Chinese.
Broccoli was being cultivated in Europe.
Pepper (corns) introduced to Java by Hindu settlers and into Europe by Arab Traders.4 B.C. Archestratus, a Greek, wrote the first cookbook, Hedypathia (Pleasant Living), in the 4th century B.C.
As early as the 4th century B.C., the Chinese had codified the five basic taste sensations: sweet, sour, briny, spicy, and bitter. Around these elementary sensations, they built a cuisine of subtlety, variety, and sophistication.3 B.C. Athenaeus described the well-equipped Greek kitchen, which included such sophisticated utensils as a specially constructed dish in which the eggs of peacocks, geese, and chickens could be boiled together in graduated concavities. Although the diets of peoples of the ancient world are well documented, little is known about their cooking techniques. In the Sumerian capital of Ur, street vendors hawked fried fish and grilled meats to passersby. In Egypt, small, raw birds were pickled in brine and eaten cold in the 3rd millennium B.C., but excavations from the same period indicate that more sophisticated cooking methods were in use and that the rich particularly liked elaborate stews. Leavened bread seems to have first appeared in Egypt, although the time and place are uncertain.

1 – 1000 A.D. Maybe the most famous of all meals is served and partaken of: the last supper of Christ.
Oranges appear in India in the first century A.D. from China.25 – 200 A.D. One of the first applications of metals was to build a stove. Cast iron was used for this purpose in China, through a process in which melted iron was poured into sand molds.97 A.D. The most notable ancient water-supply and waste-disposal systems were those of Rome. In AD 97, Sextus Julius Frontinus, then water commissioner of Rome, reported the existence of nine aqueducts of lengths varying from 16 to more than 80 km, with cross sections of 0.5 to 4.5m². Such a system had an estimated aggregate capacity of 317 million litres per day. In addition to this system, Rome had a great sewer known as the Cloaca Maxima, which drained the Roman Forum and which is still in service.1st Century Roman Emperor Traygon (Trajon), created a guild for Bakers.3rd Century Mary or Marianne an alchemist of Alexandria lived. She is credited with the discovery of the properties of the bain-marie, from whom the name is derived: Mary’s bath.1809 A.D. Nicolas Appert develops the first effective method of canning food.1809 A.D.Alexis Benoit Soyer is born 14 October.1822 A.D. Around this time Chef hats started to appear.
1833 A.D. Marie Antonin Caréme died January 12th.1840 A.D. Gas was first used for cooking.1846 A.D.Georges Auguste Escoffier born 28 October.1876 A.D. A Swiss firm added condensed milk to chocolate producing the first milk chocolate.1885 A.D. Invention of the modern hamburger.1920 A.D. French Fries are introduced into the United States by the soldiers from WWI.1958 A.D. The instant noodle was invented and launched in Japan.
Continuous method of making jelly with fruit-juice concentrates developed, instead of using single-strength juice.
The first potato flake manufacturing plant opened in Grand Forks, North Dakota, North America.1959 A.D. Charles ‘Charlie’ Trotter was born. Famed American chef and restaurateur. His Chicago restaurant (opened in 1987) was recognized as one of the finest in the world.1960 A.D. The invention of the potato water gun knife revolutionizes the potato industry.
Dr. Asselbergs developed the process for making instant mashed potato flakes, the basic process that is still used today.1966 A.D. Roman Catholic bishops did away with the rule against eating meat on Fridays outside of Lent.1972 A.D. Dr. Robert C. Atkins, published his weight loss plan “Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution,” which allowed patients to eat fat but restricted carbohydrates, this history still trends till date.1974 A.D. November 16, In Rome the first UN World Food Conference ended. At the conference, which had opened on November 5, governments examined the global problem of food production and consumption, and solemnly proclaimed that “every man, woman and child has the inalienable right to be free from hunger and malnutrition in order to develop their physical and mental faculties.”1984 A.D. Harold McGee authored “On Food and Cooking.” It became the standard authority on gastronomical science, that area where science and art, technique, and aesthetics intersect.

You can been remembered for something historic in the future. Let your passion speak, you and your work can be part of history.

About Me

I am Caleb a culinary blogger. Studied Culinary Arts in HTA School of Culinary Arts, with practical classes from well trained chefs and mentors in Hilton. Bagged couple of medals and merit. I also won an award with International Youth Foundation (By Hilton) for the Most Creative Person by My Worklife Mentor Mrs Morin A. S
Am a Chef, because I love beautiful things